


The Second First Time I Saw You

by jayhateswriting (mattias_markson_is_my_child)



Category: The Mysterious Happenings of Sajure Elm
Genre: First Kiss, High School Crush, Kissing, M/M, but like not really, childhood crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-25
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-15 23:26:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29691540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mattias_markson_is_my_child/pseuds/jayhateswriting
Summary: Tony and Ross catch up...and catch feelings...
Relationships: Ross Hayes/Tony "Stark"





	The Second First Time I Saw You

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry if I forgot to put ." instead of ," when tagging with "said [this person]" because Grammarly doesn't work on Tumblr for whatever reason, and for whatever reason, that's where I decided to write this.

Ross opened the door. It creaked very loudly, but nobody noticed because there was already music playing in the bar. It felt wrong to be here, but then again, Ross figured that it would feel wrong until his 21st birthday. Which was in a few months. God, he wished for a normal birthday this year. 

Inside the bar, there were not very many people. Those who were there were sitting quietly at tables. There was one man at the bar. Ross recognized him. He hadn’t seen that man in a long time. Ross sat at the bar. The man looked over.

“Hayes.”  
“Stark.”  
Tony blanched.  
“What?” Ross asked. “That’s what they call you, isn’t it?”  
“Yes, it is. Well, it was. I don’t know. Nobody has called me that in a while.” Tony said and looked down at the counter.  
“I’ll still call you that. If you want.”  
“Sure.”  
The bartender came over and asked Tony if he wanted a refill on his drink.

Ross considered everything that had happened since they graduated and realized that he didn’t know where Tony was in all of it. For some reason, he wanted to know.  
“So, how have you been?” Ross asked awkwardly.  
“Good, good,” Tony responded. He looked down at his drink. “Do you want anything? It’ll be on me.”  
“No, but thank you. My birthday isn’t for another few months.”  
“Oh yeah, I forgot.”  
The music wasn’t that loud, anyway.

“How have you been?” Tony asked. Ross was surprised; he thought he’d be carrying the conversation.  
“I’ve been good, I guess. I mean, it’s been hard recently. You know. I’m sure you can’t be any better than me.”  
Tony chuckled. “That’s true,” he said. “I’ve just been busy. The…the people I work with…they keep me busy.”  
Ross nodded. “I can relate. I wish we could catch a break.”  
Tony looked around the bar. “This is a break, isn’t it?”  
Ross gave him a questioning look. “Is it? I guess.”  
They sat in silence for a moment. Or, however much silence you could sit in a bar.  
“Do you want to get out of here?” Tony asked.  
Ross did a double-take. He was reminded of his little…”crush” from high school. Luckily, he saved himself. “Are you trying to pick me up?”  
“Maybe,” Tony said with a smirk. He motioned for Ross to follow him as he left some change on the counter and left the bar.

Tony kept walking at a brisk pace, seeming to know where he was going, but ultimately going nowhere.  
“Where are we going?” Ross asked.  
“You’ll see,” said Tony.  
They kept walking for a few more minutes before stopping at a tree just inside the woods.  
“At the top of this tree, you can see pretty much the whole town,” Tony explained.  
“Really?”  
“Yeah. Do you want to climb?”  
Tony didn’t even wait for a response before climbing the tree. Ross quickly followed him. 

The lowest branches were pretty high, but luckily there were some large knots spanning the base of the tree. Tony had already made himself comfortable in the middle of a branch. Ross joined him, but stayed closer to the trunk for fear of falling.  
“It’s okay, you can come closer,” Tony said, beckoning him closer.  
“No, I’m good,” Ross replied, clutching the tree trunk.  
Tony chuckled. “Fine, suit yourself.”  
Ross tentatively let go of the tree trunk and realized that he would not magically fall just from being up high. He scooted further out on the branch.  
“There you go!” Tony encouraged.  
Ross scooted all the way out to where Tony was sitting, which couldn’t have been farther than 4 feet but felt like a whole football field.

“I used to watch everything from up here,” Tony said.  
“Really?”  
“No, I’m pulling your leg. I just discovered this tree 5 minutes ago.”  
“Nice try. What sort of stuff did you see up here?”  
“Nothing very interesting. I used to watch kids play in the park, mostly. I also destroyed a lot of books by dropping them from around 30 feet up.”  
“God, don’t remind me.”  
“Do you not like heights?”  
“Not particularly.”  
“Oh, I’m sorry.”  
“No, I’m fine.”  
Tony snaked his hand behind Ross’ back.  
“I also watched the election a few years ago from up here. Well, not the election, but the rallies. The only other things that people gather like that for would be a funeral…or something like that. Sometimes I could pick out specific people. Usually, people who take similar routes every day. Like, Keegan Michaels lives there, and he takes those streets every day. He never uses other streets until he has to.”  
“Wow. That sounds like OCD.”  
“Maybe. I don’t know, I’m not a doctor.”  
“Did you ever watch me?” Ross asked.  
“A few times, maybe,” Tony responded slowly.  
“What a voyeur!” Ross teased.  
“Hey! You asked me!”  
“You’re right, I did. Look, there’s my house.”  
“The lights are on.”  
“Yeah, Lylah’s probably home.”  
“Oh, you still live with your sister?”  
“Cousin.”  
“And your cousin?”  
“What?” Ross asked, confused.  
“What.” Tony wasn’t sure what he said wrong. Ross chuckled.  
“Lylah is my cousin. My sister, Elle, lives with my parents.”  
“Oh.”  
The two of them sat in silence again and looked out over the serene night city.

Ross remembered a time when he would fantasize about sitting in a tree with Tony, his hand snaked around his back.  
“Do you remember high school?” Ross asked.  
“Sure, what about it?” Tony responded.  
“Just, the people. Where are they all? What are they doing?” He and Tony both knew exactly what everyone from their high school class was doing. But they both knew what the question really meant.  
“Doing whatever people do, I guess,” Tony said. He looked over at Ross.  
“What about your family?” Ross asked.  
“My family? Well, my mom is doing well. My sister is living with her…they live on Lincoln. God, I sound like an adult.” Tony said with a smile.  
“We don’t have to be adults right now.”  
“Yeah. Being an adult sucks.”  
“Most of the time, yeah.”  
Silence fell again. Fingers were almost intertwined but were still too far away.

Tony looked just past Ross into the woods. “I always wondered where you went,” he said. “I mean, you were there, I saw you, but you were so distracted. You always had something you were doing. Ever since senior year. And you would never tell anyone what you were doing, either. I just…I wish I didn’t miss you.”  
“Wait, like, miss as in ‘pass by?’”  
“Yes, as in ‘pass by!’ I was trying to be all edgy! Thanks for that.” Tony said, a smile on his face once again.  
“Sorry! I just wanted to make sure,” Ross apologized. “I wanted to make sure before I spilled my guts up here. Because I always felt like you were unattainable. Like you were so far out of my league I didn’t even have a chance. And then…I waited too long. You were with someone else. I had to force myself to get over it. And I did, for a little while. Okay, for a long while. But it never worked out because I never forgot about you.”  
“Wait, like, forgot about as in ‘don’t remember?’“  
They both laughed for a moment. And it was perfect. And then it was quiet.

“So what does that mean?” Tony asked. Their fingers were touching now.  
“I don’t know,” said Ross. They both leaned in. Ross could feel Tony’s breath.  
“Can I kiss you?” Tony asked him.  
“Of course.”  
It was everything he had ever imagined. It was not his first, but at this point in time, that was okay. It was probably for the best. It was small and chaste, but only for a moment. They broke apart before coming back together again. Ross swore that he would never let an opportunity like this one slip again.  
“I’m so happy I found you,” Ross breathed.  
“Me too,” Tony breathed back.


End file.
